///From the author: these are some of the ships from stories that take place in the Spacers Saga universe, which I designed and modeled in Blender before making infographics on Adobe Illustrator. This is likely to be an ongoing/continually updated series, so buckle up... The only limit here is the speed of light (and maybe not even that)
From the Frontier Wars era:
The Reliable-class interplanetary transport vessel:
When Interplanetary Dynamics (IPD) was established in 2141, it was centered on the development of a new class of engine, the plasma magnet sail, which uses the dynamics between a magnetic plasma field and the solar wind to sail between the many worlds of the outer solar system in only weeks or months, as opposed to years. The company flew its first test craft in 2153, and since then has operated under the authority of the Interplanetary Cooperative Administration (ICA). IPD is one of six major interplanetary transportation organizations (ITOs) which the ICA administers, each of which maintains a fleet of thousands of vessels to facilitate transport of people and goods throughout Solar Space.
IPD operates a fleet of 5726 of these craft, many of them Reliable-class, in its capacity as the ICA’s primary oldest and largest registered ITO. The company, based on Europa in the Jovian system, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary (by Jovian reckoning), and has posted record profits even during the crises of the 24th century. At any given point, IPD and the other five major ITOs in Solar Space have roughly 11 thousand craft more or less like the Wayfarers in flight, with roughly 2.5 million passengers embarked. If war breaks out again between the ICA and the Alliance of Free Worlds, these people would be in considerable danger.
The Tanganyika-class cruiser:
The Tanganyika-class cruiser was devised during the height of the Jovian Civil War (2309-2327) as a means of projecting power and assuring ICA-friendly settlements of the Interplanetary Defense Corps’ ability to interdict and render assistance in the event of Draconist-inspired uprisings. The first vessels in a planned run of thirty left spacedock in 2322, but production was cut short when the Crisis ended in 2327. Two were lost during the Draconist Crisis, and a further four have been lost in action against the Alliance Armada in the ongoing Frontier Wars. So far, despite their relative age and arguable doctrinal obsolescence, they have performed well in the sort of long-range patrol and interdiction they were originally conceived to accomplish - even against often numerically superior Alliance task forces.
One of the Tanganyika-class cruisers on patrol in the Asteroid Belt A.O. in the early months of 2365 is the ISV Caspian, which was completed in 2326 and has served under thirteen C.O.s including the current commander, Marina Dechert. Along with the other nineteen spacers aboard the vessel as it departs for hunter-killer patrol in December of 2364, Dechert will face a slew of challenges and tests to both her endurance and her abilities as a spacer. Over the course of a six-month deployment, they will all be pushed to their limits in the grind of long-haul patrol, with intermittent battles, frequent battle drills, and the monotony of daily routine in a place devoid of sunup and sundown, until a climactic engagement in April 2365 that may prove to be their ultimate reckoning.
From the Infinitum era:
The Bumblebee-class cruiser:
What can be said about the Bumblebee-class that hasn't already been said by those far more qualified to sing its praises? After entering service early in the 26th century as run-of-the-mill sector patrol cruisers for the Solar Union Defense Forces, the Bumblebees excelled in the role of interdiction and attack cruisers during the Kuiper War, a 23-year proxy conflict which saw the Solar Union and its allies pitted against the Martian Federation
When the war ended, however, many of these tried and tested vessels were left high and dry, so to speak, as their swiftness and biting close-in firepower was no longer required in the postwar era. As a result, many of them wound up languishing in interplanetary scrap yards, awaiting the great breaking up that comes at the end of all ships’ service lives, at some point or another. This was considered a tragedy by many of those who served aboard them
But some, like this specimen, the Fool's Errand, were salvaged and put to use as merchant vessels, salvage/rescue craft, and a variety of other second life roles. In the case of the Errand, its current crew of five - all of whom are deep space outcasts and vagabonds of the highest order - has repurposed the craft as a long-haul cargo hauler, with its high-performance Gungnir-class salt water rocket (truly a 'torch drive' if ever there was one) put to good use for pushing all manner of goods between the worlds of the Kuiper Belt - if they can manage to keep enough nuclear fuel in the tanks to keep her flying, that is…
The Scimitar-class missile frigate:
As one of the major powers in Local Space, the Martian Federation maintains a fleet of over three thousand vessels (although nearly a third of these are what we might consider “older” or otherwise less advanced classes as of 2559, and are maintained by Martian Fleet Command solely to fill out its ranks in the event of a return to open war), each of which is ready to venture out and defend the interest of Father Mars. These vessels are commonly named after bladed weapons, in reference to Mars’ martial namesake.
Intended to be one of the premiere ships-of-the-line for the Martian Federal Navy during the Kuiper War, the Scimitar-class missile cruiser was not introduced until 2543–only four years before the conflict ended. As a result, it has instead found a second life as a long-range patrol and interdiction specialist, with several dozen of its type plying the deep space trade lanes of the Kuiper Belt by the late 2550s.
One of these, the Gratuitous Fortune, is on patrol in the outer reaches of the Haumea sector in 2559 when a merchant hauler called the Fool’s Errand comes in range–despite not being on the official registry for travel in that sector. As a permit enforcement vessel, the Gratuitous Fortune is obliged to chase down the erroneous traveler and search their cargo for contraband–or else shoot her out of the sky. The chase that ensues, with an Outer System Patrol cutter tagging along, is the introductory action scene in INFINITUM, and provides the primary impetus for the crew of the Fool’s Errand to take on a risky job in return for fuel.
The Wayfarer-class interstellar transit vessel:
By the time precursor technology was found at the Ramayana Site on Titan in the 2260s, a new era of space travel had long been opened, on a scale not seen since the dawning of the era of fusion propulsion in 2029. Throughout the late 22nd century, the ICA and its various constituent entities held talks to discuss the destiny of the star systems beyond our own, which were finally becoming accessible thanks to several revolutions in spacecraft propulsion. In 2201, on the 150th anniversary of the ICA's founding, a conglomerate of powerful interplanetary commercial interests established the Interstellar Consortium (ISC) to answer that question once and for all.
For these spacefaring magnates, the mounting of the final obstacle to humanity’s conquest of the universe (interstellar travel, that is) would provide the impetus to spend many trillions of dollars to research, develop, and produce a tetrad of massive (>1 kilometer long) antimatter-powered spacecraft, meant to sojourn between Sol and the Alpha Centauri triple star system in order to set up permanent settlement there.
The first of these craft, the Spirit of Jupiter, began construction in 2219, and was officially commissioned for use by the Consortium in early 2221. Three more followed, each named for another of the giant planets from which their parent corporations had gleaned such profits over the previous hundred and fifty years. The roughly sixty-four hundred-strong mission to Alpha Centauri left in 2231, and arrived just over twenty-five years later. The outcome of this epochal mission, and the political fallout of its immense cost, are now matters of history.
More to come, when it's ready...
This is brilliant. You simply must expand on this.